Tag Archives: how to deal with a concussion

On May 15th I was rear ended by a car going 35 mph while I was at a complete stop in Pittsburgh and as a result I suffered my 5th concussion. For 13 weeks I was not allowed to work out and I was eventually pulled from work after a few weeks of trying to work after the accident.

Some of my major symptoms for the first 13 weeks were headaches, memory loss, trouble speaking, loss of balance, light and sound sensitivity, trouble sleeping, tiredness during the day and trouble concentrating. I am also still dealing with neck, back and shoulder injuries as well.

I’ve been prescribed several different drugs that are supposed to help with concussions and do physical and vestibular therapy. I’ve also done Yoga on my own which helps with calming my mind and reducing head and neck pain. Also, it provided me with a way to exercise while I was not allowed to workout.

After 13 weeks of resting I saw a new doctor who is the head of the Concussion Clinic at UPMC and he released me to start working out. After 1 week of working out I felt ten times better and was sleeping better too. Although it helped me feel a lot better overall I was still getting headaches and feel slowed down.

A post shared by Abbey Way (@absolutelyabbey11) on Aug 1, 2014 at 12:38pm PDT

**Technically it has taken me over a week to film and post this video/blog post. Because of the concussion I’m still having a lot of trouble working on things at the speed I used to. What would normally take me a day to do now takes me about a week to finish. I am going to get the second post up as soon as possible and hopefully the third will be posted on the actual date that I film the video so everything will be up to date.

As of now I am still not allowed to go back to work but I see the doctor again on August 28th and I’m feeling hopeful that I will get the OK to at least try and do a few days. Each doctor visit I have slightly improved all of my levels on the Impact test except for the “Thinking Speed” section. While I’ve gotten all of my other scores up to 80-90% by thinking speed is only at 13%.

The main goal of this series is to spread awareness about concussions. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say, “It’s just a concussion.” That sentence is just wrong on so many different levels and I hope this series helps people realize that concussions can do serious damage that can last a lifetime. I got my 1st concussion in Junior High and had 4 by my freshman year of college. I wish I knew then what I know now about concussions. Not only have I learned a lot by first hand experience but the research on concussions has come a very long way since my 1st major hit to the head.

Please share this with anyone you know that has suffered from a concussion or other brain injury or just anyone that you think could benefit from learning more, especially young athletes.

Please leave comments or questions below! I would love to hear from other people dealing with concussions or other brain injuries. Let’s help each other get back to life before our injuries!